Man accused of touring US hospitals, injuring himself to get painkillers, arrested in Maine

FORT KENT, Maine — A man who intentionally injured himself and used at least 10 different aliases while trying to obtain painkillers at hospitals around the country was apprehended in Maine last week, according to local, state and federal officials.

Inspectors with the United States Postal Inspection Service are still trying to determine the legal name and age of the John Doe who showed up July 17 at Northern Maine Medical Center in Fort Kent, according to Donna Harris, public information officer for the postal inspection service.

“It is alleged he has been going around the country to different hospitals trying to get into the emergency rooms to get medications,” said Harris. “It looks like he has been doing this for awhile.”

For the past two years, John Doe allegedly gave staff at more than 400 hospitals across the U.S. false names and addresses for billing purposes, which is how U.S. postal inspectors became involved about a year ago, said Harris, who works out of New York.

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During that time, the man allegedly received numerous X-rays and other scans followed by surgeries “to remove an obstruction or foreign object from his body [he] intentionally placed there, just to get medical attention and resulting narcotics,” Harris said

The Fort Kent Police Department was called around 3 p.m. on July 17 by personnel at the NMMC emergency room after a man calling himself Randall Parks became difficult to handle, according to Tom Pelletier, Fort Kent’s chief of police.

“He apparently started out in Bangor and went on to hospitals in Houlton, Presque Isle, Caribou and then here in Fort Kent,” Pelletier said.

The police chief said the man was given pain medication but then became “volatile and difficult to handle” when hospital staff wanted to further examine and treat him.

He was taken into custody, but then intentionally harmed himself while at the police station by inserting a foreign object into his body, Pelletier said, requiring his transport back to the hospital. After being admitted, the man was transferred the same day to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor for surgery stemming from that self-inflicted injury, according to the police chief.

Meanwhile, Pelletier conducted a background check and identified the man as being wanted by U.S. postal inspectors.

After Pelletier alerted federal authorities, John Doe was arrested by members of the Bangor Police Department upon his release from EMMC on Friday, July 18, and held in Bangor until postal inspectors picked him up and took him to Portland for his appearance later that day in U.S. District Court.

In court documents filed in federal court, the man is described as 47 years old and a resident of Conway, Arkansas.

Harris said Tuesday that John Doe “has at least 10 different aliases.”

Among his many known aliases are Randell K. Whitehead, Allen Baker, Randall Baker, Randell Barker, Allen Drake, Randell Drake, Stephen Drake, Stephen Green, Allen Parker, James Parker, Keith Parker, Randal Parker and Stephen Parker, according to records from U.S. District Court in Portland and arrest warrants issued out of New York.

The judge ordered the man committed to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, where an arrest warrant had been issued against him in May on federal charges of mail fraud and theft in connection with health care in New York. According to a sealed indictment attached to the arrest warrant, the charges resulted from the man’s illegal activities in New York from April 2011 through October 2013.

After his Portland court appearance, the man was taken into custody by U.S. federal marshals to be taken to New York, Harris said, adding she did not know of his whereabouts as of Tuesday afternoon.

Harris said the man allegedly became violent and dangerous toward hospital staff at times if he did not receive narcotic drugs.

Harris said she could not comment on any charges that may be pending against the John Doe in other states.